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How did ancient Egypt shape the development of
Greek culture? What was the impact of the encounter with Greece on
Egypt? How did these completely different cultures interact? These
questions have been asked for more than a century. Excavations at
the ancient city of Naukratis have been a key source of evidence
for providing new answers.

Located in the Nile Delta of Egypt, Naukratis was a Greek
trading post from the seventh century BC. In the late nineteenth
century it was rediscovered and excavated by Flinders Petrie,
pioneer of Egyptian archaeology. Yet 130 years later, the site
is still poorly understood.

This project is re-examining the evidence to gain a better idea
of how Greeks, Egyptians and others lived together, traded and
interacted in this city, and of the lasting impact of these
cultural exchanges. The project is a collaboration between
classical archaeologists and Egyptologists at the British
Museum, and scholars and institutions worldwide.

Project partners and publications

Images: top, pottery bowl, made on the
Greek island of Chios in the late 7th century BC and brought
to Naukratis by a Greek trader; bottom row, excavations at
Naukratis under David Hogarth, 1899, head
from a terracotta figurine of a sphinx dedicated in one of the
Greek sanctuaries at Naukratis, sherd
from an Archaic East Greek amphora found at Naukratis.